My first match as an 18 year old was at a packed Maine Road on the 26th of December 1977. It was the first time I was over in Manchester after starting to support the club a year before. The journey up to the North was one to remember. A stormy boat trip that got me seasick, no public transport from Harwich to Manchester, being dropped in London, arranging a lift with a few lads who were also going North, and getting of at an empty Manchester Piccadilly 28 hours after I left home in the Netherlands.
City played Newcastle and one mr. Colin Bell made his long awaited return from injury. As a small guy I didn’t get to see a lot from deep inside the Kippax, but the roaring was so immense. Than at half time with the score 0-0, Colin Bell came on and made the game historical for everyone inside the ground. I still can’t believe that particular game was my first and, so far, the best I can remember. How lucky I was (and still am) to be a Manchester City-fan.